AWADmail Issue 693

A Weekly Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Tidbits about Words and Language

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I was often jokingly called a gannet by my Dad and other family members
because as an active child I always had a healthy appetite. I was also
named Dusty Bin for my propensity to finish off any leftovers after a
character in the 3-2-1 game show that was popular at the time!

Alexander Nix, Cambridge, UK

From: Robert Wilson (robwilsonit yahoo.it)
Subject: gannet

The late Tony Hancock
used to call his secretary, Miss Pugh (Hattie Jacques), who was full-bodied
to say the least, a “gannet” when she wolfed huge plateloads of food. Maybe
the best radio and TV comedy ever, I believe.

A snipe hunt is often used
as a vehicle of initiation for some organizations, such as Boy Scouts,
etc. They give the “sucker” a sack and a stick and usually put them out
in the dark to hunt a “snipe”. You are to thrash the underbrush and shout
“snipe, snipe, snipe” and try to lure one into your sack. This showed up
on TV recently where the West Texas Investors Club put a woman out in the
dark with a flashlight hunting snipe. She got wise, came in, told them to
“shove it”, and left in a huff!

Charles H. Burk, Pantego, Texas

From: Scott Kidwell (via online comments)
Subject: snipe

I served four years as an electrician’s mate in the US Coast Guard, and
pretty much all the engineers (which covers mechanics, electricians, and
damage controlmen -- what one might call skilled trades) were referred to
as snipes. Most of the time the engineers were working in the engine rooms
and were rarely seen above deck. Kind of like you knew we were down there,
but we were rarely seen.

And another definition of snipe, from the American homeless subculture: a
partially smoked cigarette picked up from the ground or public ashtray. We
would smoke snipes out and about, and also go on “recon” missions to
gather them up for later smoking. A sad commentary on the human longing
to be filled with something more, and how low we will go when it seems no
one cares, but the brotherhood and comradery I experienced in my homeless
days also conversely went to show how much people can, and really do,
care for one another when we’re down and out together.

Franklin Robinson, Atlanta, Georgia

From: David Goboff (dgoboff gmail.com)
Subject: snipe in auctions

I’ve been sniped at eBay auctions when another bidder swoops in at the last
minute with a higher bid. There are even automated sniping programs to place
that winning bid in the last seconds of the auction. Yet another definition!

The history of the dodo is a very sad one and a lesson for humankind. It’s
likely that this was one of the first species human beings drove into
extinction. Dodos were very tame birds without fear of humans. Their meat was
good eating and there was a lot of it on each bird. So sailors from ships,
restocking their larders, would just walk up to the birds and club them
to death. Eventually, as with the Passenger Pigeon, humans clubbed enough
of them that the remaining population could not survive. Since it was an
isolated species on one island chain, once that population disappeared,
the bird as a living thing perished from the earth. Giving them a name
meaning “stupid” was ironic, since their lack of fear about us led to their
downfall. We should be glad that most other living things are wary of humans
and not dodos, else who knows what else we would have driven into oblivion?

Marc Chelemer, Tenafly, New Jersey

From: Brenda Cox (bcox oecs.org)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--dodo

I smiled at the meaning of today’s word ‘dodo’ because in St. Lucia
we refer to a dearly loved one as ‘my dodo’, while in other parts of the
Caribbean ‘dodo’ means excrement.

Rossini’s opera La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie) uses the magpie’s
innate kleptomania as the central plot device. The opera -- not the bird --
features one of the composer’s most scintillating overtures.

Hiller B. Zobel, Boston, Massachusetts

From: Dr. G. Nadarajan (dr.g.nadarajan gmail.com)
Subject: Magpie

In “Spring Morning” a 14-line poem by Wordsworth, he describes,

“the jay makes answer as the magpie chatters”

Also, in paediatric medicine, children with abnormally voracious appetites
to eat mud, ash, sand, etc. are termed as suffering from pica,
which is related to magpie and its indiscriminate feeding habit.

Dr. G. Nadarajan, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

From: Rupert McNaught Davis (rupertj telkomsa.net)
Subject: Magpie

In target shooting, the concentric rings are named the following: The center
ring, the bull; the second ring, the inner; the third ring, the magpie;
the fourth ring, the outer.

Magpie is also a term that used to be used for the combination of (white)
rochet and (black) chimere worn by
Anglican bishops, since magpies are black with white wings. Today, most
bishops wear a red chimere, which someone said makes them look like a
sunburnt penguin. In 1988, I attended the funeral of Michael Ramsey, the
100th archbishop of Canterbury, and there was a great number of bishops
present, all in black chimere. I hadn’t seen one in years, but it seemed
appropriate for a funeral. The two RC cardinals looked out of place in
their bright red cassocks.

Lawrence Crumb, Eugene, Oregon

From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Limericks

A rapacious young lady named Janet
at a smorgasbord was such a gannet,
leaving nothing for others,
slim sisters or brothers,
although she was as round as a planet.

-Mariana Warner, Asheville, North Carolina (marianaw37 gmail.com)

An odd little bird is the snipe,
In marshes you will find his type.
Why this brown feathered bird,
Makes an odd sound, I’ve heard.
I wish I could view him on Skype.

-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

Cinderella looks down and cries, “Oh, no!
Now where did my crystal sabot go?
Here I stand in bare sock.
I lost track of the clock.
How could I have been such a dodo?”

-Anne Thomas, Sedona, Arizona (antom earthlink.net)

The magpie has earned a bad press
as collector of dross, more or less.
And the gal so nicknamed
is likewise defamed
as a gabber, a hoarder, a mess.

-Zelda Dvoretzky, Haifa, Israel (zeldahaifa gmail.com)

One day when he’s old, Harry Potter’ll
Be just an old wizarding dotterel
I hope that his magic
Does not end with tragic
Misjudgments like Lear made with Goneril.

-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

The magpie bragged he was a gannet,
And campaigned to be prez of the planet.
All the while he sniped,
Complained, and griped.
‘Til all (‘cept dodos and dotterels) said, “Just can it!”